A La Grange health clinic is reaching out to even more patients with the installation of a women’s wellness kiosk.

Tracy Harris/The Oldham Era

Kentucky Commission on Women Executive Director Eleanor Jordan, left, shows Marsha Biven how to use a new interactive wellness kiosk at the Hope Health Clinic. Biven serves on the clinic’s advisory council and is a vice president at Baptist Hospital Northeast.

The Hope Health Clinic opened in September to serve the underinsured residents of Oldham, Henry, Trimble and Carroll counties.

The kiosk, which looks like a small automated teller machine, allows women to access modules about a variety of wellness issues, including asthma, cancer, depression, domestic violence and smoking cessation.

The kiosk also has a phone that will connect women with various help lines for additional support.

Eleanor Jordan, executive director of the Kentucky Commission on Women, said many women put their own health last — tending to the needs of family members first and not seeking attention for their own medical issues.

Making the kiosks available to those women can help them access educational and preventative information, she said.

“It could prove to be one of the most innovative ways of getting women to take hold of their health,” she said.

Louisville’s Park DuValle Community Health Center is home to the first kiosk installed in January 2011.

Since installation, users have completed more than 1,100 modules and made more than 130 calls for additional assistance. Depression and asthma are the two most frequently viewed modules, Jordan said.

“We’ve not only reached hundreds of women but it is giving us a profile of what kind of health care we should be emphasizing in that area,” Jordan said.

Jordan said getting women more involved in their health empowers them to make better health choices and seek preventative care.

“It does more than teach and show,” she said. “It involves.”

Janet Warren, the clinic’s administrator, said involving patients in their own healthcare is an important step.

“We can help them to learn how to take ownership of their medical care,” she said.

Since opening in September, the clinic has seen nearly 1,300 patients, 58 percent of whom were from Oldham County.

Warren said the clinic is still growing — advisory board members hope to add dental services to the La Grange location and eventually add a mobile unit for use in the other counties.

The clinic opened as the result of a community-wide taskforce that formed after a previous clinic closed.

Fundraising efforts for the clinic have resulted in numerous donations, including $300,000 over three years from the Foundation for a Healthy Kentucky; $15,000 over three years from the La Grange Rotary and $20,000 from Metro United Way.

Funding for the women’s health kiosk came from the Baptist Hospital Foundation.

The clinic utilizes volunteers to provide service, including nurses, medical technicians and nursing assistants — but also clerical and hospitality volunteers, too.

The clinic is open 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday through Wednesday, with extended hours until 7:30 p.m. Thursday. The clinic accepts walk-ins when possible, but patients are encouraged to make an appointment by calling 225-6711.